Category Archives: received wisdom

Glancing at the April 1940 edition of the Adelphi, Dalrymple observes:

It is true that the war had not yet entered its most cataclysmic stage, but it is a tribute to the liberalism of the times that, in such a moment of national emergency, people should have been able to argue for a policy [pacifism] directly contra that of the government, without hindrance or persecution.

He points out that today,

there are many subjects on which intellectuals would face more persecution, especially in universities, if they challenged received opinions, than Max Plowman [the then editor] faced from the government in the midst of a war.

The Adelphi published many Orwell essays such as ‘Not counting niggers‘ (July 1939; shown in the contents above)